


Casual Reception

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is very much implied to be demiromantic, But Lila doesn't exist, Conversations, Debunking Rumors, F/M, Gen, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is Over Adrien Agreste, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Plagg Is So Done (Miraculous Ladybug), Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), but he's also always right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26077015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: His classmates would whisper, glance at him, and then glance in another direction. And that other direction turned out to be Marinette and Luka, whenever they hung out together during lunch or walked home together.It was weird- all the glancing. It was almost like people wanted him to say something about Mainette’s blossoming friendship with Luka. The problem was that Adrien didn’t really have anything to say.--Or, Adrien doesn't understand why everyone thinks that Marinette and Luka are dating. Or why he should be jealous about it.
Relationships: (Mentioned) Kagami Tsurugi/Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 56





	Casual Reception

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, I'll edit these one day...

It was weird, Adrien thought, being the only one that didn’t know something.

There were constant whispers, glances in his direction, then glances in another direction- people trying to connect dots and draw lines that he wasn’t even aware of. Usually he was used to things like that, to rumors that wired constantly around him. It was the curse of being famous.

But this felt different. Less like a rumor and more like a secret. His classmates would whisper, glance at him, and then glance in another direction. And that other direction turned out to be Marinette and Luka, whenever they hung out together during lunch or walked home together.

It was weird- all the glancing. It was almost like people wanted him to say something about Mainette’s blossoming friendship with Luka. The problem was that Adrien didn’t really  _ have  _ anything to say.

So when Alya nudged Nino with her elbow and point to the distant figures of Marinette and Luka walking out to get lunch together, whispering so lowly that Adrien couldn’t make out the words- glancing to Adrien, then back again to the leaving friends- Adrien kind of snapped.

“What are you guys whispering about?”

That had broken up his friends’ quiet conversation. Nino had smiled shyly, rubbing his wrist in a nervous gesture, and glanced not-so-inconspicuously at Alya- who smirked at him and ruffled his hair.

“Feeling left out?” She’d teased.

“Very.”

“Ah, well, just some gossip…” Nino trailed off to look at Alya again.

She huffed, crossing her arms, gently bumping Nino’s arm as she did so. “It’s so not gossip. Just because our little Mari denied all accusations does not mean that I’m wrong!”

“Uh… what accusations?”

“The accusation that her and Luka are totally dating!”

Adrien raised an eyebrow, confused. “But, aren’t they just friends?” They didn’t really act romantically with each other. There were no lingering touches or kisses- no flirting, barely any blushing. There wasn’t anything there, right?

Alya seemed to think otherwise, “Oh, you sweet summer child- you innocent, pure soul! They. Are. Dating.”

“Well, that’s what  _ Alya  _ thinks, anyways.” Nino jumped in.

“And the whole class!”

“I don’t think they’re dating.” Adrien continued, “They don’t act like it.”

“They totally do.”

He turned to his best friend, hoping that he was on his side, “Nino?” Please.

His friend just shrugged, “I’m trying to be the middleman here, but, dude, they do kind of act like they’re dating. I’m waiting for official confirmation first though.”

“No! Come on, Nino! Do they act like they’re dating? Not at all. Just friends.”

Alya’s eyes narrowed at him, a scary gleam in them, “Why’re you so passionate about this, huh?”

“I just think that it’s weird to assume that friends are dating just because they hang out a lot. Plus, it’ll probably be pretty awkward between them if they find out that most of the class thinks that they’re dating.”

Alya crossed her arms, leaning in close, “I think you’re jealous.”

“Huh?” Why in the world would he be jealous?

“I mean, dude, you might have a small crush on Marinette.” Nino added.

“Huh?” He only had eyes for Ladybug! (and maybe Kagami)

“You totally do!” 

“No I don’t.” Adrien said, not really thinking about how rude that sounded- “I-I  _ mean  _ that while Marinette is amazing, I don’t think I know her well enough to get a crush on her.” He looked down to his feet, “She barely even talks to me…”

“But she’s been getting better with that.” Alya said, “Which is an important piece of evidence that supports my Marinette-is-dating-Luka theory.”

“Wait, why does that support your theory?”

But his question went ignored and the conversation turned to other, less confusing topics.

* * *

The next day, he watched the class closely- trying to figure out all the weird stares are whispers. It always happened when he talked to Marinette- which wasn’t that often, considering that she still seemed to be nervous around him- and whenever Marinette talked to Luka. He couldn’t find the connection between these two instances. Well, aside from the fact that Marinette was involved.

Unless… unless the class really did think he was jealous of them being friends (because they were very obviously  _ not  _ in a relationship). Unless the class really did think he had a crush on Marinette. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all! Marinette was an amazing person, but Adrien wasn’t sure if they were close enough friends for him to even catch any type of romantic feelings over. She barely even talked to him, after all.

He would only ever have such a strong connection with Ladybug.

Eventually he’d just decided to actually just ask Marinette like a normal person. Adrien knew all about how off the mark some rumors could be, so talking to the person who actually knew the truth was probably the best option he had.

“Hey, Marinette!” He greeted like he always did in the morning, his head turned to where she slipped into her seat behind him.

She gave him a nervous wave, “Good morning, Adrien.” She had gotten better at not through stuttering her greetings.

“I was just thinking about how Alya was saying that you and Luka are dating.” He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly nervous, “I don’t want to assume or anything, so I was wondering if you could confirm this?”

Marinette’s face went from confused to annoyed rather quickly. She gave him a sweet smile and said, “Sorry, but Alya’s wrong. I’m not dating anyone at the moment.” before whipping her head around to scold Alya, who was sitting right next to her. “Ugh, Alya! I told you we weren’t dating!”

Tuning out of the conversation, Adrien shuffled in his seat, facing forward and making himself comfortable as he gave the class the most smug, self-satisfied smirk he knew.

* * *

After school, once Adrien was (well, mostly) alone in his room, he was able to celebrate. “Ha ha! Plagg, I knew I was right!”

“Yeah, yeah, kid. Good job, I guess. Though I don’t know why you’re so happy about being right.”

Adrien turned to his kwami, “It’s like I said, having everyone think that they’re dating would probably be awkward. It might even put a strain on their friendship. It’s like if everyone thought that Kagami and I were dating, it would just make our hangouts one hundred percent more awkward.”

Silence filled the room before Plagg interrupted, “Uh, kid? Are you an idiot or just oblivious? You know you kissed Kagami, right? Honestly,  _ she _ probably thinks that you guys are dating.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah.”

“But I’m in love with Ladybug! It’s not- I can’t- it’s not fair, is it? To date Kagami when I love someone else.”

“I mean, the whole Ladybug thing isn’t working out at all, so I don’t see the harm in dating someone else.”

“I haven’t- she hasn’t completely rejected me yet, has she?”

“False hope.”

“Shut up, Plagg. Let me- I mean- do I even have a crush on Kagami? Am I even in love with her?”

“I don’t know. I mean, you kissed her, didn’t you?”

Adrien blushed, “Yeah,” he muttered, “I kind of did.”

“So, do ya want to date her?”

“I-I mean, I guess. Yeah? But what about  _ Ladybug _ .”

“So you would date Kagami?”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he realised what he just said- as he realised that he probably would want to kiss her again. “Oh my god. Plagg?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m in love with Kagami.”

“I can’t believe you just realized that.”

“But what about Ladybug? I love her, too!”

“Well, you have patrol in two days, don’t you? Why don’t you just talk to her like a nor-“

“Aha! I’ll set up some romantic date during patrol- set the mood, and then I’ll confess. If she says ‘no’, then I’m done. No more flirting, I’ll leave it alone for good. It’ll work.”

Plagg groaned into his cheese, muttering something about ‘stupid kids that just can’t talk to each other’.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why people think that Adrien and Marinette are friends in the show. They're really not. More of "friend of my friend" types. Even in Heart Hunter, it was much more of "we're both friends with Kagami" than "we're all friends with each other". They're obviously friends, at least to Adrien, but not exactly close ones. Marinette crush kind of crippled that.


End file.
